We spent a night because near here I finally met my long-lost Irish cousins. It´s a typical Irish country town dating back to around 1630 (and which interestingly, I discovered, was the home of Ireland´s first female judge, Eileen Kennedy, back in the 1960s, as well as Noel Curran, the past head of Irish national television and current director general of the European Broadcasting Union, and in 2012 it elected Ireland´s youngest mayor, a 22-year-old woman named Darcy Lonergan, from the Green Party). The town´s main points of interest are a cotton lace gallery (the town is known for its delicate lace) and a Workhouse (next photo), one of 130 built across the country to house and help people immiserated by the horrific Irish Potato Famine of those years; it provides visitors a sobering look at the harsh conditions of the time. We stayed in the historic Shirley Arms Hotel, which was nice if rather overpriced at around 200 euros a night. Not really interesting enough to spend serious time here, but I´ll certainly be back to visit my newfound family!

Read more in my post Our Wonderful Recent Tour of Ireland´s "Greatest Hits."

David Paul Appell